BILLINGS, Mont. — Former Trump Interior secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday he will not seek reelection to a fifth term in Montana’s U.S. House seat, a decision he attributed to health concerns and the need for extended recovery. In a letter to constituents, Zinke said he has undergone multiple surgeries in recent years and expects additional treatment for injuries he linked to more than two decades in military service. He said his condition is not life-threatening but would require “considerable time for recovery.”
Zinke argued that Montana and the country should not “run the risk of uncertain absence and missed votes,” saying his “judgement and experience” point to focusing instead on full-time representation in Congress. The move leaves Democrats an outside opportunity to compete in a state that has shifted more strongly toward Republicans over the past decade, with Republicans holding a narrow House majority ahead of the November midterm elections and with multiple seats vacant.
Zinke, 64, said his injuries stem from his time in the military, and he did not specify the nature of his condition. After serving four years in the Montana Legislature, Zinke was elected to the U.S. House in 2014. He was later tapped to serve as Trump’s interior secretary in 2017 but resigned in 2018 amid ethics investigations, according to the AP report.
His political comeback came in 2022 when he narrowly won in a newly created congressional district in western Montana, AP reported. Zinke won again in 2024 by a comfortable margin, and multiple Democratic candidates had already been preparing to challenge him this fall, including former gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse and union organizer Sam Forstag.
Forstag said Zinke was leaving because he saw “what was coming: all of us,” adding that people in western Montana wanted new leadership. The AP report also said that after Zinke’s decision, Zinke and Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy endorsed conservative talk radio host Aaron Flint, who announced his candidacy in a social media post.
Zinke said Flint “is the next generation of leadership Montana needs.” Flint, described in the report as a combat veteran, then joined a Republican field that expanded quickly after Zinke’s announcement. The AP report said Flathead County Republican Committee Chairman Al “Doc” Olszewski also joined the race; Olszewski previously served as a state senator and surgeon and came within 2 percentage points of beating Zinke in the 2022 GOP primary.
Olszewski told AP that the eventual Republican nominee will need broad appeal to win in November, adding, “The Democrats have a fair shot at this race. This is not a safe Republican district.” The AP report said Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte praised Zinke as a “champion for Montana,” first as a SEAL and later in politics.
During his time leading the Interior Department, Zinke worked to advance President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda and to boost oil and gas extraction from government lands, AP reported. He also advocated for conservation and last year led efforts involving a proposal to remove the potential sales of public lands from a Republican budget proposal, according to the AP report.
Zinke’s announcement reshapes both parties’ planning for the election cycle, with Republicans now tasked with selecting a new standard-bearer while Democrats look for a pathway to win a seat that has remained competitive at least in part of western Montana’s political landscape.